Lake Elsinore is ready to move forward with creating a veterans memorial, this time without controversy over religious symbols.

City Council members this week endorsed a memorial monument design that would consist of a black granite slab etched with the image of a soldier with his head bowed standing before the symbol of a fallen comrade – a rifle stuck in a boot and topped with a helmet.

“I think this rendition … is even better than the first one,” Councilman Daryl Hickman said.

The initial design, approved in May 2013, showed a soldier kneeling before a field of crosses and Stars of David representing a World War II military cemetery. Council members planned to have the monument placed at the entrance to the city-owned minor-league baseball stadium.

Two residents, with the support of the Washington, D.C.-based American Humanist Association, sued the city over the proposal, contending the design was religious in nature and violated the principle of separation of church and state. A federal judge ruled earlier this year in favor of the plaintiffs and ordered the city to scrap the design.

The city reconstituted its veterans memorial committee to come up with another proposal.

That proposal, approved by the council on Tuesday, also will include a separate display featuring small granite pedestals, each engraved with the symbols of a military branch, and surrounding a 25-foot-tall flagpole.

In addition, the city plans to sell memorial bricks on which residents could have engraved the names of veterans they wish to honor. The bricks would be placed along the main walkway to the stadium, where the monument and pedestals will be located. Council members agreed to budget $60,000 in capital improvement funds to finance the project, with installation expected to occur in September after the Lake Elsinore Storm finishes its season at the stadium.

“We’re very proud Lake Elsinore has finally decided to do a veterans memorial for all of our veterans,” said Michael Sheehan, representing Lake Elsinore and Wildomar VFW Post 1508.

John Larsen, a community activist who was a plaintiff in the lawsuit opposing the original design, voiced support for the revised plan.

The idea of creating a veterans memorial in Lake Elsinore came from a City Council discussion in 2012 about what to name the city’s new boat launch and accompanying recreational area. Councilwoman Melissa Melendez proposed naming the facility after a fallen serviceman.

Rather than doing that, the council members agreed to name the area La Laguna Resort and Boat Launch and establish a separate memorial to honor veterans.